700 days with Xavi

Barcelona's modern history has, in the main, featured a player who has broken numerous records while at the 'Azulgrana' club: Xavi Hernández. The midfielder is now set to play in his 700th competitive match wearing the Barcelona shirt, an incredible achievement.

Xavi is not only the current-day player to have appeared in the most competitive games for the same club, but also the one who now has the most titles to his name.

Louis van Gaal sent him on to make his debut on 3rd October 1998. He has been through some bad patches, some good patches and some excellent patches. He turned down an incredible offer from Milan when he was still a kid with his place on the team still unsecured, had to fight to rid himself of comparisons with Guardiola, and even struggled with a serious knee injury.

However, he overcame all the problems and survived all the management eras, becoming an essential element for all those coaches he has served under. A cornerstone of Rijkaard's Barça, Team Pep and also the Spanish national side that has won two European Championships and the World Cup, Xavi has been notching up titles and games along the way.

A Ballon d'Or finalist on three occasions (2009, 2010 and 2011), even Pelé has said that with footballers like him at his side, he would have scored 3,000 goals. And his history-making will not stop here, with two and a half years left on his contract, there is still plenty of time for more. He has appeared in 143 European games, a record only topped by Raúl (144) and Giggs (149).